1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing a cleaning pad, more particularly to an apparatus for manufacturing a cleaning pad including a cover knitted out of polyester film and synthetic fiber, and a sponge inserted into the cover by bonding the pad using ultrasonic waves and then cutting the bonded pad.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cleaning pads made of synthetic fibers are commonly used for washing dishes, bowls and the like. The conventional method of making cleaning pads comprises sewing a cleaning pad that is a cover knitted from polyurethane fiber or the like with a sponge therein. This method has defects in that the sewed portion of the cleaning pad is easily broken and the cleaning pads are easily damaged during the sewing process. Also, the method is not suitable for mass production of the cleaning pads.
To overcome the above defects, U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,256 proposed a method of making cleaning pads, which makes mass production of the cleaning pads possible.
The patent discloses a method of making cleaning pads including compressing and heating a cleaning pad with an ultrasonic bonding apparatus in order to bond upper and lower sides of the cleaning pad.
In the above method, some parts of the cleaning pad may be melted in compressing and heating the cleaning pad using the ultrasonic bonding apparatus, and the parts tend to stick to the surface of the bonding apparatus. Therefore the attached part of the cleaning pad is easily torn or damaged as the bonding apparatus moves up and down, which is the prime cause of poor quality in producing cleaning pads.
Further, in the above method, a straight blade is provided to move reciprocally in order to cut the bonded cleaning pad to be separated. However, when the cleaning pad is loosely laid, it is hard to cut the pad clearly, and so it may give rise to burs on the edge of the cut portion. Accordingly, to obtain pad having a sharp and clear cut section, it is necessary to tighten the cleaning pad to be stretched, which requires additional equipment. Moreover, since a cutting process is conducted during heating the cleaning pad, some melted pads are likely to stick to the blade when the moving speed of the blade is low.
The present invention is designed to solve the problems of the prior art, and therefore provides an apparatus for bonding and easily cutting a cleaning pad to which the cleaning pad does not stick when an ultrasonic horn moves after compressing and heating the cleaning pad.
The present invention provides an apparatus for manufacturing a cleaning pad comprising: a base, a pair of supply plates separated apart from each other by a predetermined distance and mounted over the base for supply of cleaning pad, a supporting plate protruded from an end of the supply plate, a lifting plate located on both side of the supporting plate to separate attached cleaning pad using pneumatic device, an ultrasonic horn with a groove in a bottom being vertically movable, located over the supporting plate and driven by an ultrasonic oscillator, an actuator mounted on both sides of the ultrasonic horn to help the ultrasonic horn separated from the cleaning pad, a moving body located right under the supporting plate and being reciprocally movable along a guide rail, a rotary blade mounted on a upper end of the moving body and being reciprocally movable in the groove of the ultrasonic horn, an air cylinder to make the moving body reciprocally moved, and an inhaler to draw off a broken piece of the cleaning pad generated by the rotary blade, wherein the actuator includes a case mounted on a side of the ultrasonic horn, a press member being vertically slidable in the case, a bottom of which is movable lower than that of the ultrasonic horn, and a spring located in the case to compress downward the press member.
The present invention is an apparatus of bonding and cutting a cleaning pad using an ultrasonic horn, which bonds opening ends of the cleaning pad with heat and pressure. A bonded portion of a high temperature tends to stick to peripheral devices, but the apparatus according to the present invention is likely to be easily separated from other devices due to an actuator and a lifting plate.
Also, the actuator acts as an additional compressor that compresses the cleaning pad in advance before the ultrasonic horn moves down. In addition, the actuator acts as a separator that compresses the cleaning pad for a while after the ultrasonic horn moves up to help separate the ultrasonic horn from the cleaning pad.
Further, the apparatus according to the present invention includes a rotary blade so that the cleaning pad needs not be tightened in cutting process, and also includes an inhaler to draw off the broken pieces of the cleaning pad material generated in cutting process.